Quess'Ar'Teranthvar
Quess'Ar'Teranthvar, also known as the Golden Grove of Hidden Knowledge was a collection of five sets of ten Nether Scrolls each, changed into the form of a tree. The empire of Netheril had acquired a set of the Nether Scrolls, explaining their rapid rise and their mastery of magic. The elves arranged for the theft of the scrolls from the Netherese, and secreted them away in Windsong Tower, in the city of Myth Drannor. The elves learned that the scrolls had to be read in order, and also that every race that read them learned different information. For example, one of the main thieves of the scrolls was Rilmohx Sha'Quessir, a gnome elf-friend who learned a vast knowledge of illusion magic by glancing only briefly through the scrolls. The elves also learned that altering the scroll's form into something different allowed for hidden meanings to be revealed. A High Mage named Tyvollus Aluviirsan therefore transformed the metal scrolls into a thin golden beech tree, with golden metal leaves, and with its trunk in the face of a treant. In the tree's foliage were a small silver bird and a snake with golden, silver, and electrum scales. The bird and snake were said to represent Corellon and Mystra, both deities of magic. The Nether Scrolls, in this form, allowed for six different ways of learning its secrets: * By analyzing the shape and structure of the roots, which spelled out words in the ancient Elven language, one learned of the basics of magical knowledge. This was the first set, the Arcaenus Fundare. * By reading the patterns and shapes of the leaves that formed letters and words, one learned how to create magical items of all types. This was the second set, the Magicus Creare. * By listening to the animals in the tree, one learned of living self-sustaining magical fields, as well as of wild magic and dead magic. This was the third set, the Major Creare. * By listening to the rustling of the leaves, one learned of the multitude of planes, their interactions with each other, and how magic functioned on each plane. This was the fourth set, the Planus Mechanicus. * The fifth set, the Ars Factum, was revealed only when the entire grove contorted its bark and branches into symbols along with the melodies of the leaves and animals singing in concert. This explained the creation and understanding of artifacts and the creation of new magical life-forms. * Finally, a sixth source of magical knowledge could be gleaned only once one considered all fifty scrolls as a whole. It taught the elves the upper levels of Weave spellcasting (10 and 11 level spells) as well as Elven High Magic rituals. This could only be learned by the snake and bird merging together into the form of a small golden dragon. Tyvollus Aluviirsan remained with the Quess'Ar'Teranthvar, needing to use all of his concentration to force the tree to retain its shape (if he were separated from it the tree would have collapsed into molten metal. After twenty years or less, the metal would have once again reformed itself into the metal scrolls that the Netherese were familiar with). In 1375 DR, agents of Hadrhune ripped the Quess'Ar'Teranthvar out of Windsong Tower, unbeknownst to the warriors of the Cormanthor War, and spirited it away to the Anauroch desert. Darcassan the Farseer managed to get word of the theft to the Liberators of Shadowdale but couldn't help them find its location other than to suggest that they search for the Crypt of Augathra the Mad. They found it and the Lost Sage, who granted them a vision of a way to destroy the tree before the Shadovar could use it for their own ends. The adventurers managed to succeed in their task, dissolving the Quess'Ar'Teranthvar and scattering the component Nether Scrolls to the winds. Appendix References Category:Artifacts Category:Magic items Category:Trees Category:Items from Myth Drannor Category:Items from Windsong Tower Category:Items from Cormanthyr Category:Items from Cormanthor Category:Items from North Faerûn Category:Items from Faerûn Category:Items from Toril Category:Items